First Amendment News

Governor Jerry Brown signed a law requiring drug companies operating in California to report price hikes in prescription medicines in certain instances. Thirty six other states have introduced bills on the issue in the absence of federal action to curtain drug price hikes. (Reuters, October 9, 2017, by Reuters Staff) The law forces drug companies to notify insurers before price hikes of over 16 percent over a two-year period. Drug companies would have to justify

Students at William & Mary College from Black Lives Matter stormed the stage at a campus speaking event preventing the appearance of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Claire Gastanaga. Gastanaga failed to preempt the protesters by acknowledging their right to protest and was drowned out by chants and slogans such as “liberalism is white supremacy.” The college took no steps to identify or punish the hecklers. (Reason, October 4, 2017, by Robby Soave) Director of

Given mounting evidence that Russia used political ads on Facebook to influence voters in the 2016 presidential election, Mark Zuckerberg was forced to take responsibility for allowing Facebook to be used as a forum for lies and salacious propaganda. He pledged to defend democracy by working with governments to effect electoral integrity. As many call for regulating Facebook, John Herrman, The New York Times Magazine, October 4, 2017, writes that regulation is not likely to

Public trust in news outlets rose to 48 percent, a nine percent increase since last November. Public confidence in the Trump administration fell during that time. Trump has been assailing the news media at one point calling it the “enemy of the American people.” A Gallup poll in September of 2016 showed public trust in the media at an all time low of 32 percent. (Reuters, October 3, 2017, by Chris Kahn) Trump has continued

San Diego is taking steps to strengthen a long standing law after a series of investigative reports and a grand jury report showed the city failed to investigate the financial interests behind more than $3 billion in contracts with over 1,000 companies. The 1992 voter approved law was prompted by revelations that the city was about to sign a real estate deal with an alleged mobster. The law requires the city to disclose the name